HOUSING AND PLANNING FOR A HEALTHY PUBLIC
On April 25, 2012, CADH sponsored a policy forum entitled Housing and Planning for a Healthy Public: Land Use, Design and Development to Promote Health Equity. CADH released a policy brief of the same name. For more information about the forum, click here.
To request a hard copy of the policy brief, please contact Alyssa Norwood at anorwood@cadh.org or 860.727.9874.
Was There Any Media Coverage of the Event?
Yes. To read the story and hear the interview from the Connecticut Public News Service, click here. To read an interview from Health Justice CT, click here. To listen to an interview on "Face Connecticut," click here.
What is the Connection Between Planning and Public Health?
In one of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, the CDC reported on the profound connections between urban planning and public health, with the full report available here. The report notes the common missions, perspectives, and histories of urban planning and public health. According to the MMWR, “both aim to improve human well-being, emphasize needs assessment and service delivery, manage complex social systems, focus at the population level, and rely on community-based participatory methods.”
Public health can have a critical role in informing the planning process to create communities that promote health. Nationally, public health professionals are increasingly becoming an institutionalized part of planning processes. Local public health is helping to ensure that comprehensive plans explicitly address public health. They also are advocating for communities that, among other things, have streets that are walkable and have sufficient green space for recreation.
How is CADH Helping Connect Me with Planners and Other Community Partners?
To ready Connecticut local health directors for their emerging role in the planning process, CADH is drafted a policy brief. The brief used findings from CADH’s Health Equity Index to promote institutionalized collaboration between local public health departments and planners. The ultimate goal is to develop land use and other policies that promote health and health equity in Connecticut. CADH has partnered with the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association, the Partnership for Strong Communities, and the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities to support this exciting opportunity.